Benchmarks for Sensitivity, Specificity, and False Negative Rate

Benchmarks for Sensitivity, Specificity, and False Negative Rate for Diagnostic Mamography Exams from 2007 - 2013

by Indication for Exam*


Sensitivity

  Work-Up of Abnormal Screening Examination Short-Interval Follow-Up Evaluation of Breast Problem / No Lump or Lump Unknown Evaluation of Breast Problem / Palpable Lump All Diagnostic Examinations
Sensitivity** 91.9 61.7 83.8 93.3 87.8
Readers with 10+ cancers 126 23 52 76 210
True Positives 5,497 251 1,474 1,857 13,369
Cancers 5,980 407 1,758 1,991 15,230
Sensitivity (Median-50th percentile) 92.7 60 84.6 93.6 88.2
Sensitivity (25th, 75th percentiles) 86.7, 96.3 53.8, 70 77, 90.8 88.3, 100 82.6, 92.3
Sensitivity (10th, 90th percentiles) 81.8, 100 47.8, 86.7 73.3, 94.4 84.2, 100 76.5, 95.2
Smoothed Plots of Sensitivity by indication for exam+
for 15,230 Cancers That Were Identified at Diagnostic Mammography (Among Radiologists Finding 10+ Cancers)

      

          


Specificity

  Work-Up of Abnormal Screening Examination Short-Interval Follow-Up Evaluation of Breast Problem / No Lump or Lump Unknown Evaluation of Breast Problem / Palpable Lump All Diagnostic Examinations
Specificity§ 87 95.8 93 86.4 90.6
Readers with 100+ non-cancers 157 115 98 83 246
True Negatives|| 103,890 43,870 62,502 23,969 344,600
Non-cancers# 119,448 45,771 67,183 27,735 380,518
Specificity (Median-50th percentile) 88.7 96.7 93.5 89.3 91.6
Specificity (25th, 75th percentiles) 84.2, 92.7 94.3, 98.4 91.1, 96.1 85.7, 92.6 88.5, 94.8
Specificity (10th, 90th percentiles) 77.2, 95.1 91.9, 99.2 87.4, 98.1 81.4, 95.7 85.6, 96.6
Smoothed Plots of Specificity BY INDICATION FOR EXAM+
for 380,518 Non-cancers (Among Radiologists Finding 100+ Non-Cancers), 2007 - 2013

       

       


False Negative Rate

  Work-Up of Abnormal Screening Examination Short-Interval Follow-Up Evaluation of Breast Problem / No Lump or Lump Unknown Evaluation of Breast Problem / Palpable Lump All Diagnostic Examinations
False negative rate (per 1000)†† 4 6.6 4.7 4.5 4.8
Readers with 100+ exams 157 116 98 87 249
False negatives‡‡ 507 310 331 138 1,902
All examinations 125,610 46,639 69,153 30,157 396,263
False negative rate (Median-50th percentile) 3.8 5.9 5 4.3 4.7
False negative rate (25th, 75th percentiles) 1.3, 6.4 2.4, 9.3 2.8, 8.3 0, 7.9 2.7, 7
False negative rate (10th, 90th percentiles) 0, 9.7 0, 16.3 0, 11.6 0, 13.2 0, 10.0
Smoothed Plots of False Negative Rate BY INDICATION FOR EXAM+
for 396,263 Diagnostic Mammography Exams (Among Radiologists with 100+ Exams), 2007 - 2013

       

       


Footnotes:
Numbers are frequencies unless otherwise indicated.
The first non-zero assessment within 90 days was used as the final assessment for analysis.
*  Includes examinations for radiologists with minimum numbers of cases in a given column as designated; excludes examinations for which the radiologist is unknown.
** Sensitivity = the percentage of cancers that had an abnormal final interpretation (BI-RADS category 4 or 5; Note: 0 or 3 with a recommendation for biopsy was recoded as 4).
 True Positive = the number of cancers that had an abnormal final interpretation (BI-RADS category 4 or 5; Note: 0 or 3 with a recommendation for biopsy was recoded as 4).
 Cancers = the number of examinations with a tissue diagnosis of cancer within 1 year following the examination.
§  Specificity = the percentage of non-cancers that had a negative final interpretation (BI-RADS category 1, 2, or 3; Note: 0 with no recommendation for biopsy nor additional imaging/workup was recoded as 3, while 3 with a recommendation for biopsy was recoded as 4).
||  True Negative = the number of non-cancers that had a negative final interpretation (BI-RADS category 1, 2, or 3; Note: 0 with no recommendation for biopsy nor additional imaging/workup was recoded as 3, while 3 with a recommendation for biopsy was recoded as 4).
#  Non-cancers = the number of examinations without a tissue diagnosis of cancer within 1 year following the examination.
††  False negative rate = the rate (per 1000 exams) of false-negative exams.
‡‡  False negatives = the number of cancers that had a negative final interpretation.
+  For figures, An overlaid solid line indicates the 50th percentile (median), paired dashed lines indicate the 25th and 75th percentiles, and paired dotted lines indicate the 10th and 90th percentiles. A single dashed line below the median indicates the 10th and 25th percentiles are the same and a single dashed line above the median indicates the 75th and 90th percentiles are the same.
Table & Figures last updated Mar 26, 2017.

The following must be cited when reproducing this data:

"The Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium and its data collection and sharing activities are funded by grants from the National Cancer Institute (P01CA154292, U54CA163303), Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCS-1504-30370), and Agency for Health Research and Quality (R01 HS018366-01A1). Downloaded xx/xx/xxxx from the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium Web site - http://www.bcsc-research.org/. More information regarding the BCSC is available at: http://bcsc-research.org/."